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Operation “Please, please don’t get hurt before the playoffs… is in full effect for the Boston Bruins, who take their talents to Winnipeg for a meeting against the Jets tonight, and it’s not off to the start Claude Julien would prefer. The Bruins were without both top line winger Jarome Iginla and defensemen Kevan Miller for Tuesday night’s shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild, and lost third liner Chris Kelly to a back injury by the end of the night.
It’s an injury that’ll keep the 33-year-old Kelly, a player with five goals and nine points in 21 games since the Olympic break, out of action tonight, but it’s not something the B’s are worried about.
"He’s obviously a little stiff - it’s a back injury - and it’s day to day because a lot of those things are muscle spasms," Julien told NHLBruins.com. "We’re just taking it easy with him. He definitely wouldn’t be able to play today and that can change quickly there if things go the way they should."
With the club potentially short on centers (David Krejci was a healthy scratch on Tuesday and Patrice Bergeron could be next), prospect Ryan Spooner has been once again called back up to the big league Bruins on an emergency basis. This is the seven millionth time that the B’s have called Spooner up from their AHL affiliate Providence Bruins this year, with tonight seeming like a potential go-to for No. 51 to get some actual ice-time for the club. With just three games left on the schedule -- all of them against non-playoff clubs and with nothing to gain from Boston’s point of view -- the time for the 22-year-old Spooner to gain some experience is now.
I mean, let’s be real here, Spooner’s not going to be a contributor to the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs off the bat, but he certainly could be in the event of an injury rash that decimates the Bruins’ rather thin forward depth. In the event of multiple injuries -- especially to a center in the top six -- the easy fix for Julien and Co. would be to move Carl Soderberg up into the mix and call Spooner up from the Calder Cup Playoffs on the farm to be an offensive contributor on the Bruins’ third line.
Now, the Bruins have been adamant that Spooner is in the organization to be a center and not a winger, so he’s not going to slide in for say, Jordan Caron. If you want a direct comparison to last year’s playoff lineup, Caron is your Kaspars Daugavins and Spooner is your Soderberg. And the beer guy on level seven is probably your Jay Pandolfo, really.
Spooner has recorded 11 assists in 22 games with the Bruins this year.
After sitting out for the first time this season, the 27-year-old Krejci will draw back into the lineup. In his most consistent season as a Bruin, Krejci comes into tonight just one assist from the second 50-assist season of his career (his first and only came in 2008-09), and is just one power-play point away from matching his career-high of 19 (also set in 2008-09).
Obviously, the rest means more than the personal milestones for both Krejci and the Bruins.
But with Krejci’s night off last game, however, the Bruins have just four ‘ironmen’ left in their lineup; Patrice Bergeron, Reilly Smith, Brad Marchand, and Gregory Campbell have all played in each of the club’s 79 games this season.
In net, the Bruins will give the start to Chad Johnson. After sitting for the past two games, the 27-year-old Johnson takes to the cage for his 22nd start of the year. Coming into action with 17 wins this season, Johnson took the loss last week against Toronto after allowing four goals on 31 shots, and comes into this game with one shootout loss in as many career games against the Jets. He's 9-3-2 with a .913 save percentage on the road this year.
Winnipeg counters the Johnson start with Michael Hutchinson. Sound familiar? Well, it should.
Hutchinson was drafted by the Bruins with the 77th overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, and spent three seasons in the Black-and-Gold organization from 2010 to 2013. Ultimately usurped on the organizational depth chart by Svedberg, Hutchinson moved on to the Jets organization this past summer, and though his year started in the ECHL, is finally in the NHL. The 24-year-old Hutchinson stopped 16-of-17 shots in his NHL debut on Apr. 7, a 1-0 loss to the Wild.
Jacobs interested in the Bills? Not if it means leaving the Bruins…
A report earlier this week suggested that Boston Bruins owner and Buffalo, N.Y. native Jeremy Jacobs has heavy interest in purchasing the Buffalo’s NFL franchise, the long tortured Bills. But if Jacobs made a serious run at the Bills, it’d have to be at the expense of the Bruins, as the NFL doesn’t allow its owners to own multiple sports teams in different cities, and that’s something that the man that’s owned the Bruins for nearly 40 years isn’t ready to do right now.
“He’s been extremely happy with his ownership here in Boston and he’s enjoying how the team is playing,… B’s President Cam Neely told 98.5 The Sports Hub on Thursday. “He told me that he has no interest right now, or doesn’t have any interest at all to give up the Boston Bruins.
“[Jacobs] really enjoys owning the Boston Bruins. I can tell you that that’s what he told me. He really enjoys owning the Boston Bruins, he enjoys his role with the National Hockey League, and I think he’s very passionate about this organization.…
An obvious loophole that the elder Jacobs could explore would be selling the club to his son, Charlie, who’s heavily involved with the club’s year-to-year operations. But that’s not something that seems to be on the table. Not as of right now, anyways.